2017, Arbó, D.G., López, S. D., Kubin, M., Hummert, J., Vrakking, M.J.J., Kornilov, O.

Synopsis We present a theoretical and experimental study of the subcycle interference in laser assisted XUV ionization of Ar atoms. Averaging over the focal volume happens to blur the intracycle interference, which thus cannot be measured directly. We show that even at these conditions, the intracycle interference can be obtained through the subtraction of two different angle and energy-resolved distributions at slightly different laser intensities.

2020, Schmidt, P., Music, V., Hartmann, G., Boll, R., Erk, B., Bari, S., Allum, F., Baumann, T.M., Brenner, G., Brouard, M., Burt, M., Coffee, R., Dörner, S., Galler, A., Grychtol, P., Heathcote, D., Inhester, L., Kazemi, M., Larsson, M., Li, Z., Lutmann, A., Manschwetus, B., Marder, L., Mason, R., Moeller, S., Osipov, T., Otto, H., Passow, C., Rolles, D., Rupprecht, P., Schubert, K., Schwob, L., Thomas, R., Vallance, C., Von Korff Schmising, C., Wagner, R., Walter, P., Wolf, T.J.A., Zhaunerchyk, V., Meyer, M., Ehresmann, A., Knie, A., Demekhin, P.V., Ilchen, M.

(X-ray) free-electron lasers are employed to site specifically interrogate atomic fragments during ultra-fast photolysis of chiral molecules via time-resolved photoelectron circular dichroism. © 2020 Institute of Physics Publishing. All rights reserved.

2008, Ansari, Z., Böttcher, M., Manschwetus, B., Rottke, H., Sandner, W., Verhoef, A., Lezius, M., Paulus, G.G., Saenz, A., Milošević, D.B.

Strong-field photoionization of argon dimers by a few-cycle laser pulse is investigated using electron-ion coincidence momentum spectroscopy. The momentum distribution of the photoelectrons exhibits interference due to the emission from the two atomic argon centres, in analogy with a Young's doubleslit experiment. However, a simulation of the dimer photoelectron momentum spectrum based on the atomic spectrum supplemented with a theoretically derived interference term leads to distinct deviations from the experimental result. The deviations may have their origin in a complex electron dynamics during strong-field ionization of the Ar2 dimer. © IOP Publishing Ltd and Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft.

2015, Zimmermann, Henri, Eilzer, Sebastian, Eichmann, Ulli

We investigated the principal quantum number n distribution of excited states resulting from the interaction of Helium with strong, short laser pulses. We find excellent agreement with predictions of the semiclassical frustrated tunneling ionization (FTI) model [1] as well as fully quantum mechanical calculations. Furthermore, the excitation process directly populates triplet excited states due to the breakdown of the Russel-Saunders coupling scheme for high orbital angular momentum l states of Helium, which are predominantly populated in the strong laser field.

2014, Stodolna, A., Huismans, Y., Rouzée, A., Lépine, F., Vrakking, M.J.J.

The application of velocity map imaging for the detection of photoelectrons resulting from atomic or molecular ionization allows the observation of interferometric, and in some cases holographic structures that contain detailed information on the target from which the photoelecrons are extracted. In this contribution we present three recent examples of the use of photoelectron velocity map imaging in experiments where atoms are exposed to strong optical and dc electric fields. We discuss (i) observations of the nodal structure of Stark states of hydrogen measured in a dc electric field, (ii) mid-infrared strong-field ionization of metastable Xe atoms and (iii) the reconstruction of helium electronic wavepackets in an attosecond pump-probe experiment. In each case, the interference between direct and indirect electron pathways, reminiscent of the reference and signal waves in holography, is seen to play an important role.

2015, Schütte, Bernd, Arbeiter, Mathias, Fennel, Thomas, Jabbari, Ghazal, Gokhberg, Kirill, Kuleff, Alexander I., Vrakking, Marc J. J., Rouzée, Arnaud

We report on the observation of a novel intracluster Coulombic decay process following Rydberg atom formation in clusters ionized by intense near-infrared fields. A new decay channel emerges, in which a Rydberg atom relaxes to the ground state by transferring its excess energy to a weakly bound electron in the environment that is emitted from the cluster. We find evidence for this process in the electron spectra, where a peak close to the corresponding atomic ionization potential is observed. For Ar clusters, a decay time of 87 ps is measured, which is significantly longer than in previous time-resolved studies of interatomic Coulombic decay.

2015, Schütte, Bernd, Arbeiter, Mathias, Fennel, Thomas, Jabbari, Ghazal, Kuleff, Alexander I., Vrakking, Marc J. J., Rouzée, Arnaud

We report on a novel correlated electronic decay process following extensive Rydberg atom formation in clusters ionized by intense near-infrared fields. A peak close to the atomic ionization potential is found in the electron kinetic energy spectrum. This new contribution is attributed to an energy transfer between two electrons, where one electron decays from a Rydberg state to the ground state and transfers its excess energy to a weakly bound cluster electron in the environment that can escape from the cluster. The process is a result of nanoplasma formation and is therefore expected to be important, whenever intense laser pulses interact with nanometer-sized particles.

2020, Wragg, J., Benda, J., Mašín, Z., Armstrong, G.S.J., Clarke, D.D.A., Brown, A.C., Ballance, C., Harvey, A.G., Houfek, K., Sunderland, A., Plummer, M., Gorfinkiel, J.D., Van Der Hart, H.

We describe and illustrate a number of recent developments of the atomic and molecular ab initio R-matrix suites for both time-dependent calculations of ultrafast laser-induced dynamics and time-independentcalculations of photoionization and electron scattering. © 2019 Published under licence by IOP Publishing Ltd.

2008, Liu, X., De Morisson Faria, C.F., Becker, W.

A recollision-based largely classical statistical model of laser-induced nonsequential multiple (N-fold) ionization of atoms is further explored. Upon its return to the ionic core, the first-ionized electron interacts with the other N - 1 bound electrons either through a contact or a Coulomb interaction. The returning electron may leave either immediately after this interaction or join the other electrons to form a thermalized complex which leaves the ion after the delay Δt, which is the sum of a thermalization time and a possible additional dwell time. Good agreement with the available triple and quadruple ionization data in neon and argon is obtained with the contact scenario and delays of Δt = 0.17 T and 0.265 T, respectively, with T the laser period. © IOP Publishing Ltd and Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft.

2015, Iablonskyi, D., Nagaya, K., Fukuzawa, H., Motomura, K., Kumagai, Y., Mondal, S., Tachibana, T., Takanashi, T., Nishiyama, T., Matsunami, K., Johnsson, P., Piseri, P., Sansone, G., Dubrouil, A., Reduzzi, M., Carpeggiani, P., Vozzi, C., Devetta, M., Negro, M., Faccialà, D., Calegari, F., Trabattoni, A., Castrovilli, M., Ovcharenko, Y., Möller, T., Mudrich, M., Stienkemeier, F., Coreno, M., Alagia, M., Schütte, B., Berrah, N., Callegari, C., Plekan, O., Finetti, P., Spezzani, C., Ferrari, E., Allaria, E., Penco, G., Serpico, C., De Ninno, G., Diviacco, B., Di Mitri, S., Giannessi, L., Prince, K.., Yao, M., Ueda, K.

We present a comprehensive analysis of autoionization processes in Ne clusters (~5000 atoms) after multiple valence excitations by free electron laser radiation. The evolution from 2-body interatomic Coulombic decay (ICD) to 3-body ICD is demonstrated when changing from surface to bulk Frenkel exciton excitation. Super Coster-Kronig type 2-body ICD is observed at Wannier exciton which quenches the main ICD channel.